There are so many elements of bad management within a place of business it's hard to try and summarize it all in one article. I thought about how to tackle this one for a while and decided the best way to do it would be to give you an example from a friend of mines personal experience.

What does it take to get a fucking courtesy call?

For those of you who don't know, I was previously employed by a certain Computer Games Software company. I worked for this company for a period of 3 months, during this period my role within the company was to test their products and find problems, or bugs (glitches, errors etc.) within their software. I volunteered for a lot of overtime, held a near highest major issue 'bug' count for the product I was testing and referred an ex-member of staff to work for them again. Him, being one of their better employees (who left previously for his own reasons) was welcomed back straight away. My cousin is executive producer for this company and gave them his confidence in me when I was initially employed. After this 3 month period, I was laid off along with 80 other employees due to their being no further need for us now their product is released. I was told to apply again for more work in 3 months time.

3 months pass.

I re-apply, first by telephone. After several failed attempts at getting through, I left an answer phone message.
The next day my message was met with no response. I call again. Failing to get through again, I decided to apply in writing. I sent a letter along with my CV / Resume to them by post. A week or so passes, still no response. I decide to send an email, detailing further my request for employment, along with my CV / Resume attached. Still receive no response. My friend, who recently came over to this country from abroad, is looking for work also, so I advise him to apply for the same company. He does so, mentioning my name in his application, and gets a response within no time at all. He is invited to an interview, which he attends and gets offered a position. He enquirers about myself and is informed that they will be able to organise our shifts to work alongside each other (for transport purposes).

I have now referred 2 employees and applied several times (using alternative means of contact) and still received no response. I take it upon myself to call again and without surprise, do not get through to anyone. I decide to get in contact with my cousin, he tries to organise me my job back only to find out I am down on the system as being employed for 9 months.

Now, the company policy is, if you work for them for 9 months, you don't work for them ever again unless offered a permanent contract of employment. This is due to 'testers' of their product being rather expendable, as in, once their product is released they no longer need people to test anything. So as a result they can't afford to employ people permanently to do nothing while they don't have anything to test, and it is against the law to employ people for more then 9 months on a temporary contract without being offered a permanent position.

This is fine, in fact, it makes a lot of sense. However, as I previously detailed I only worked for this company for a 3 month period, so, assuming my application has been overlooked due to an error on their system, I attempt to contact them again. This time, I send them an email detailing the possible misunderstanding, and again apply for a position enclosing my CV / Resume.

Surprise, Surprise, no response. After further repeated attempts to get in contact with somebody over the telephone, I decide to go and see somebody in person (due to me having to drop off my mate there everyday regardless). I explain the situation to several people who tell me that the whole thing seems rather strange, and that they will try and find out what the problem is and get someone to contact me soon. I was told that they were still taking on people so that there is a good chance I will get my job back this time. I went home, somewhat relieved that I had finally got through the companys nearly impenetratable recruitment system.

A week or so passes and I still haven't heard anything, I am starting to become rather annoyed now. I haven't once been dignified with a letter of refusal, a telephone call or even an email. Months have passed since I initially re-applied, I am already working somewhere else, but am still making an effort to contact this company.

I decide to try and contact somebody via telephone yet again. This time, I get through. I speak to somebody who informs me that there 'might' be work available in a months time, but they are no longer taking people on at the moment.

Then, completely out of the blue I receive an email telling me that in review of my previous performance whilst employed, they regret to inform me they will not be offering me a position of employment for their department.

For fucks sake, why wasn't I told this to begin with? I find it a little fucking hard to believe that this is the normal process of recruitment. Previous performance? I held the 2nd highest count for serious issues found in their product out of 80 testers, did copious amounts of overtime including 12 hour all night shifts, referred 2 of their current employees to them and they send me one shitty email trying to convince me that the reason for my refusal is performance related?

Fuck off.

That is why I decided to write this down, I find it hard to believe that this is a normal method of recruitment. All of the above could have been avoided by a simple telephone call, or a short letter or email. I want to know what I have done to deserve such poor treatment in the first place.

Will I get a response this time?

This is what I sent to their recruitment department;

-

Dear _____,

Thank you for responding to my application for employment. It is with regret that I write to inform you that the process wasn't exactly straight forward.

I first contacted _________ _____ by telephone, then in writing, then by email, then by personal reference and then by going down to __ in person. This could of been avoided by a courtesy call or letter of refusal much sooner. However, this is not my concern. I would like to know whom I should contact in order to forward a complaint in regards to your recruitment process.

It should also be noted that I referred two current employees of yours to the __ department. Along with the very debatable reasons for the refusal of my employment, I feel my efforts have been greatly unappreciated.'

-
PS: Fuck you (later removed).

Delete some of the shit from your inbox bitch.